Police at the scene of a cyclist-involved accident on Seven Sisters Road
(Picture: TomDeDelta)Work is underway to create a new experimental cycle highway to connect Finsbury Park and Camden Town after a series of accidents along Seven Sisters Road.
Transport for London (TfL) will begin work to construct Cycleway 50 on February 20 “to provide a safe, segregated space for cyclists and give more room to pedestrians” on one of the top ten routes for travel to and from central London.
It will comprise several roads in Islington from York Way to Royal College Street in Camden. Over the next ten months, roads will be widened, speed limits will be reduced to 20mph and some traffic signals will be modified.
Between June 2017 and June 2020, 210 people were injured in road collisions around the Nag’s Head area. Of these, 31 casualties were cyclists and 54 were pedestrians. There are currently no cycle routes through the Nag’s Head area.
TfL say the new Cycleway 50 will connect people in neighbourhoods along two new segregated cycle lanes, running westbound along Seven Sisters Road and eastbound along Isledon Road and Tollington Road.
There is currently no cycling infrastructure at the Nag’s Head gyratory near Holloway Road, or connections into the existing cycle network, making it difficult for people to make longer trips.
Willâ¯Norman, London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, said: “More Londoners than ever are choosing to walk and cycle around the capital. We need to continue to make London’s roads safer and journeys easier by building more high-quality cycling infrastructure.
“This new cycleway between Finsbury Park and Holloway will be yet another step towards making cycling easier and more appealing to people in the capital, and help build a safer, fairer and greener London for everyone.”
Mike Hardaker, TfL’s Director of Capital Delivery, said: “We’re building this Cycleway as an experimental route and will be working closely with Islington Council to make sure the changes support everyone in the area to travel more sustainably. I’d like to thank residents in the area for their patience during construction work and would encourage people in the area to check their journeys before they travel.”
Cllr Rowena Champion, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Air Quality, and Transport, said: “The route will make it easier for local people to switch to environmentally friendly modes of transport, especially in Nag’s Head, where there are currently no cycling facilities or links to existing routes. Meanwhile, it will also provide a link to other safe cycling routes, both in Islington and beyond.”
Further sections of the Cycleway could begin construction later this year, connecting the Nag’s Head gyratory and Holloway Road with York Way via Hungerford Road.
This section would connect to an existing cycle route to Royal College Street.
